


Unexpected Longing

by presidentcas



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Dean is not a vAMPIRE OKAHY, Doctor!Cas, M/M, Mention of Minor Character Death, Mention of alcohol, little angsty, mechanic!Dean
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-10
Updated: 2016-01-06
Packaged: 2018-05-06 00:46:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5396471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/presidentcas/pseuds/presidentcas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean volunteers on Christmas and is paired up with Castiel. As they spend a day together they suddenly know each other unexpectantly well. Dean later finds he can't get Castiel off his mind, and he's not sure what to think about that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In which they meet

Dean didn’t have a whole lot of family, but he had always had someone to celebrate with, and he had always appreciated that. He usually went back home and celebrated with Sammy, Bobby and Dad. They’d exchange gifts, Dean would make the food, and they’d all get drunk.

This Christmas was different.

Sammy was in California, in an expensive college that meant he didn’t have the money to go anywhere, and neither did Dean, since he paid for most of it.

Bobby and Ellen had been together for almost a year, and they were going to celebrate at the Roadhouse with Jo and Ash. He had offered to fly Dean over, but he had refused. He wasn’t taking money from anyone.

Dad was dead. He was in a car accident in September. Fatal injuries, died in the ambulance.

Dean was all alone.

Dean had never been one for charity. He always had a desire to help people, a need to do something good for the world, yet all he could do was fix cars. It made people happy, and he liked that. He worked so much anyway; he didn’t usually have time for anything else. Except now, he did.

* * *

 

He called the charity organization early on Christmas Eve.

“Meg here, what can I do for you?” a female voice asked. There were lots of sounds around, and Dean assumed they came from the volunteers around her.

“I’m Dean Winchester. I’d like to volunteer,” Dean said. It sounded so weird coming from him, and he started to regret all of his past life choices.

“For children or something, maybe, you know,” he hastily added.

“Oh, thank god!” Meg replied. “Chuck dropped out last second, that idiot, so you’ll take his place. You’re teamed up with Castiel Novak at Sonny’s Home for Boys. Do you know where that is?”

Dean gulped.

“I do.” He wished he didn’t.

“Alright, great. Come here at three, you can change and pick him up. Oh, one more thing, you’ll be dressing up as Santa.”

Dean started to protest, but all he heard was the soft buzzing of nothingness. Meg had hung up on him.

\---

Dean hadn’t done the best job of decorating his apartment. He had a tiny fake Christmas tree on the counter, decorated with two Christmas ornaments and some blinking fairy lights. A Santa hat was lying on top of his stack of Busty Asian Beauties magazines. He shook his head before he locked the door, the apartment was old and empty and cold, and he was glad he had decided to spend his Christmas Eve someplace else.

As much as he loved the Impala, the heating was crap, and he hurried into the central with a nose like Rudolph’s. A woman, whom he assumed was Meg, was right behind the counter. “Dean, right?” she asked. He nodded. She handed him a worn down Santa costume and pointed to a bathroom nearby.

Dean walked out of the bathroom feeling ridiculous and confused at where to go next, until Meg pointed him towards a guy standing alone in a corner. Dean went over to him.

The guy, Castiel, Dean assumed, had an odd costume. He wore a suit with a tan trench coat on top, and had some angel wings on his back. His hair was dark and messy  “Hello, Dean. Should we go?” The man asked. Dean nodded. “Sure. Its Castiel, right?”

As they walked through the snow and towards the Impala, Dean couldn’t help but notice how good-looking Castiel was. His eyes were so blue and his smile was so wide.

They didn’t talk much as they drove, but Dean caught Castiel staring at him several times, maybe because Dean did the same.

\---

Dean slowed down as they drove past the wooden sign.

“Sonny’s home for boys.” he sighed.

“Have you been here before?” Castiel asked.

Dean nodded. Cas didn’t ask any more questions. Dean was thankful for that.

They walked toward the old house and Dean felt his heart skip a beat. He had had such a good time there, but then he remembered the disappointment of his dad coming to pick him up, and he remembered how bad a father was. He didn’t like the thought of that now that he was dead.

He did his best to cheer up, and put on a smile. He did his best to think about the kids he could make happy that Christmas Eve. As they crossed the snow he took a deep breath and prepared himself as best as he could, before he walked up the steps and opened the door.

The place was exactly like he remembered it. They walked into the living room and he saw boys, more of them than ever, and of all ages. Most of them were smiling and laughing, and Dean knew why. Sonny was taking good care of them.

Sonny immediately came over and gave Dean a hug. Castiel looked at them, but chose to stay silent. The kids looked at them expectantly and the teenagers rolled their eyes.

“Are you friends with Santa, Sonny?” A little kid asked, and everyone laughed.

“Yes, Tom, I am,” Sonny responded with a smile. “I don’t know his helper, though.”

“Oh,” Castiel said. “I’m Castiel, an angel of the lord.”

Tom immediately ran over to Castiel and started asking questions.

Dean realised he didn’t know much about being Santa. It wasn’t like he had any gifts; they were all under the tree already.

“So are you guys having a good Christmas?” Dean asked. Anyone over the age of twelve laughed, but the smaller kids nodded excitedly. Dean smiled. Maybe this Christmas wouldn’t be as bad as he thought.

They ate turkey with the kids, and ended up having a great time. Dean was fantastic with the kids, he always had been, and Cas admired that. He was a bit awkward at first, but started doing better after getting a bite to eat.

Dessert happened in the living room. Every surface was filled, either with pie or with people. Dean was sitting in one of the bigger chairs and was surprised to feel something bump into his side. He looked up and right into the eyes of Castiel, sitting on the armrest and half leaning on Dean.

“There were no other place to sit,” Castiel apologized.

“It’s cool, Cas” Dean smiled, but it sort of wasn’t. Cas was so soft and warm against his side, so pretty and close and- luckily Tom came over and wanted to sit in Santa’s lap, so Dean was distracted. Sometimes though, sometimes in between Tom’s wishes of world peace and parents and a cat that was only his (“Or maybe not, maybe I could share it but I wanna name it ‘cause names are important and I have a lot of ideas, I was thinkin’ maybe” followed by the fifty cutest cat names Dean had ever heard,) Dean looked up at Cas and felt an unexpected longing.

He wondered what he would have done if they were anywhere else. If they had met in a bar or a restaurant or at work, surely he would have hit on him hours ago. But he hadn’t, and it felt so weird, but also good in a way.

Eventually they were ready to go back, stomachs stuffed with food and smiles on their faces.

Tom clung to Cas’s leg and did his best to hold on.

“The cat says you fly really fast, Castwiel,” he said, mispronouncing Cas’s name.

“I do,” Castiel happily replied.

“Now I have to fly and cheer up some more kids.”

Tom let go on that. “Good luck, Castwiel.” He looked a little sad.

“Bye, Tom. And goodbye to the rest of you, too!”

Dean gave a firm nod and exited the room, Cas following right behind him. Neither said a word until they were back in the car.

It took a few tries to get Baby’s engine to start up. She’d been in the cold for a long time.

“Dean?” Cas asked just as the engine started.

“Yeah?” Dean replied, looking at the angel beside him. He really did look like an angel, and Dean knew now that he was as kind as one, too.

“Can I ask you for a favour?”

“Of course, Cas.”

“I haven’t celebrated Christmas with my family in a really long time, but they invited me to come, and well, I wanted to cheer up the kids since I’m in costume and maybe because you’re in costume too-“

Dean smiled widely and interrupted him. “Sure. Where at?”

They drove off, Castiel hurriedly attempting to explain the way, and Dean smiling. He liked the man next to him, and couldn’t wait to spend more time with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My amazing artist absolutely spoiled me with ideas and I want to include as many of them as I can, therefore I decided this would be a multi chapter fic! There’ll probably be three chapters, but we’ll see. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it and will read the rest!


	2. In which all hell breaks lose

Dean stopped the car in front of the biggest mansion he had ever seen.

“You never mentioned you were rich!” Dean looked at the guy next to him in his silly little angel outfit and had a hard time believing it. 

“I’m not, Dean. My parents are.” 

Dean tried to let it go, considering Cas hadn't asked him any further about the Boy’s home, but he had a hard time doing just that because he was so curious. Cas had mentioned not seeing his family in a long time. Why? The questions spun around in Dean’s head. 

“Dean,” Cas said. 

Was Cas disowned or something? Why? He seemed so kind, volunteering for the kids on Christmas. He clearly hadn't done anything criminal either, considering he was volunteering. Or maybe he wasn't? Dean started building up a list in his head of things that could get Cas disowned from his family, but criminal was the only thing in the list, and he quickly scratched that. Cas had been too nice to the kids. 

“Dean!” Cas sighed loudly. 

“Oh uhm, yeah, sorry. Let's go.”

Dean walked out of the car, taking in everything as they walked through a gate and into a large garden, complete with frozen ponds and beautifully manicured bushes covered in snow. 

“Holy crap, Cas! Did you grow up here?” 

Their feet made crunching noticed as they stepped through the thin layer of snow. The driveway was well shovelled, which would have taken a lot of time considering the size of it.

“Yeah, I did. It wasn’t as great as you'd think.” 

Dean wanted to ask further but bit his lip and shut up. They arrived at the door and Cas knocked before they took a few steps back. 

The door opened with a creaking noise. 

“Cas!” Someone exclaimed, a guy with brown hair and dark eyes.

“Gabriel,” Cas greeted with a monotone voice. He entered, and Dean followed. 

“Got a special friend? Mother won't be happy with that.” 

Special friend? Oh. Things made a little more sense for Dean all of a sudden. He looked up at the wall in the massive hallway to see several quotes from the bible, accompanied by several paintings of biblical events. That was it. Shit. Dean felt like he knew way more than he should have. 

“Give me a break, Gabriel. I got to know him exactly four hours ago, and I asked him to come because he was already dressed up as Santa and I didn't want to.” 

Gabriel put his hands up to show that he gave up, and they walked through the house. It was old and big and luxurious, and Dean doomed it utterly unnecessary to have such a preppy house. 

After a while they stepped into a ballroom - yes, a freaking ballroom - and found it filled with people. They were everywhere, wearing expensive suits and fancy dresses, even the kids. Dean felt utterly uncomfortable and once again regretted a lot of previous choices, being born for example. 

They stood there for a short while, just taking it all in, and then some kid yelled “Santa!” and all hell broke lose. 

At first a couple kids walked over, and they were so careful and elegant Dean felt like throwing up. The thought of Cas every being anything like those kids was so weird. 

“Did you bring more presents?” One of them asked Dean, and he shook his head. “You got all the presents earlier, guys. Though maybe you'd like to meet me.” He put on the most Santa-like smile he could, and missed the boy’s home where he hadn't needed to fake it. 

“We know that Santa is not real,” one of the other kids said. “We only pretend he is if he brings presents.” 

Dean was going to give the kids a real lesson at that, and opened his mouth as Cas grabbed his arms and pulled him away to a somewhat empty corner.

“I'm sorry, Dean. This was the worst idea I've ever had,” Cas mumbled as he leaned against the wall. His hand was ruffling his hair anxiously. It made Dean feel like absolute crap. He took Cas’s hand and guided it to hand along his side before letting go.

“Don't worry about it, Cas. If you don't like it here, why don't we just leave?” 

Cas seemed relieved. He nodded and they started walking towards the door. 

“Castiel,” a sharp voice exclaimed. A woman stepped toward them. She was wearing a tight dress and her face looked all stretched out. Dean suspected plastic surgery. Her hair was put up in a tight updo. Everything about her was just really uptight. 

“Mother,” Castiel replied. Dean sort of wanted to gasp at that, just like someone would have if this had been the bad soap opera it felt as if it was. 

“Who is your friend?” the woman asked, looking at Dean with poison in her eyes. 

Jesus Christ, Dean though. What was up with this family? 

“This is Dean. He came to help me cheer up the children like you asked me to do. How did that make any sense to you, by the way? If I just dressed up as something Christmassy then God would forgive all of my sins? Yeah, and I'm still sinning, by the way. Happily, that is.” 

Castiel’s voice had been getting louder and louder, and at this point everyone were staring at the three of them. Dean definitely did not enjoy the attention. 

Dean put a hand on Cas’s shoulder, hoping to calm him down. It didn't work. Cas didn’t even flinch, and if he even notices it wasn’t showing. Dean left his hand there anyway, hoping it was calming in some way. 

“God will not forgive you, Castiel. I was hoping I would.” 

Castiel laughed out loud at that. A manic laugher. 

“Isn't the whole point of Christianity forgiveness? How comes God can forgive killers and hookers, but not gays?”

His mother sighed. People were coming closer, clearly interested in the drama. 

“Castiel, we forgive hookers and murderers after they are done sinning. Like you said yourself, you are still doing it.” It sounded as if Cas was child and she was trying to explain something entirely obvious.

“Homosexuality saves lives, mother, did you know that?” Cas smiled a little, but it most definitely didn’t reach his eyes. 

There were a few moments of silence. 

“Fag,” someone yelled out from the back of the room. Castiel was practically shaking with anger, and Dean was getting really mad himself. Naomi didn’t even twitch, even though according to Dean, she should have stood up for her son. Cas was thinking the same thing.

“Thanks for the fucking support, guys.” 

Cas took a deep breath, and suddenly Dean felt a hand slip around his (still Santa clad) waist. 

“You know what? Mother, siblings, everyone else in this room. Meet my boyfriend, Dean. I brought a gay into your house, mother, wow that is just-” 

Dean was getting tired of this very dramatic, angry version of Cas (whom, to be honest was unfairly hot) and he simply started dragging him out the door. Behind him he could see people’s faces, some amused, some curious and some simply angry. Dean wished a terrible curse upon every person in the room. 

“Good to meet all of you,” Dean said loudly to interrupt Cas, and then they were back in the halls and Dean pretty much carried Cas into the impala. They sat there for a couple minutes in silence, both lost in thought, and then Dean looked over at Cas and saw tears running down his cheeks.

“I'm so sorry you had to be there though that. Bringing you was a terrible idea,” Cas mumbled, voice shaky. 

Fuck it. He had been Cas’s fake boyfriend for about ten minutes (because yes, that was the amount of time they had spent walking through those damn halls) so he might as well act as one just a little longer. Dean sat a little closer and put his arms around the man next to him. 

“It's fine, Cas. I'm fine, I'm more worried about you.” 

Cas made a choked sound and didn't reply. They just sat there, squeezed together, no words spoken. 

“You know what’s messed up?” Castiel asked after a while. 

“What?” Dean responded, pulling away a little and wiping away some of Cas’s tears. 

“I actually thought she would forgive me. How could I possibly be so stupid? I should have known, oh my god, I don’t know why I just had to go in there and ruin it all over again and-”

Dean hushed Cas. He didn’t have the heart to listen to anyone beat themselves up like that. 

“You did nothing wrong, Cas. I'll drive you home, you should probably get some sleep.” 

“Thank you.”

Dean did just that. The ride was mostly silent, except for Cas’s belated directions. Eventually Cas instructed Dean to stop the car in a small parking spot. They said goodbye, and then Cas left the impala and Dean rolled up the window and wished him good luck with his family. Then Dean was on the road with an empty hole in his stomach, feeling like all of a sudden nothing was right anymore. 

Dean opened the door to his apartment and saw his poor little Christmas tree. He walked right into his dark bedroom and sprawled across the bed. He felt like absolute shit because he had left Cas alone when he needed him. Maybe he hadn't known him that long, but he felt like they were close anyway.

Dean sort of wanted to get up and drive back to the Cas’s apartment, to lay down next to him and cuddle and talk about it and fuck, since when was Dean Winchester such a sap? Besides, he barely even knew the guy. Except he knew that was wrong. He sighed, knowing he was in it way too deep, and then he fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks guys! I'm a bit behind on writing because there's been so much to do with school. Good news is, break is coming up so that means tons of time to write! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I know it's really angsty but things will get better. Any comments and kudos are appreciated!


	3. In which there is a sleepover

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a while! Christmas got me really busy. I hope you'll like this chapter, even though it's really short.

Dean was leaning against the kitchen bench, staring at his sad Christmas tree and cautiously sipping steaming hot coffee. It seemed as if the day before hadn’t even happened, and he’d just skipped right past Christmas Day. That was what it felt like, at least until the very much vivid memory of Cas reappeared, and he knew it was real. 

Dean was lost deep in thought when his phone vibrated on the counter. 

“What?” he said grumpily into it, hearing how raspy his voice was in the morning. 

“Hey Dean! How was Christmas?” Sam’s cheerful voice asked.

“When the hell do your classes start?” Dean just asked back, not at all feeling like talking about it.

“At nine. I’m about to go for a run, and I want to have some time to do laundry and get some homework done and-” 

“You don’t have classes until nine and you’re up at, what time is it for you, like five? Don’t you ever sleep? Bitch.” Dean was ridiculously tired.

“You didn’t answer my question, jerk.” 

Dean looked down. What was he supposed to say? That he spent the whole night staring at his hot co-volunteer? Who, by the way, was dismissed by his family a second time? Jesus.  
“It was fine, okay? How about you and Jess?” 

Sam sighed.  
“It was good, although not very Christmassy. We went to a party, then drunkenly exchanged presents in my dorm afterwards. I had a good time though.” 

Dean nodded before realizing his brother wasn’t able to see it.  
“I gotta run, Sammy. Work.”  
He refused to get asked any more questions, so he hung up. He had just put his phone down when it vibrated once again.

“Fuck off, Sammy!” he said angrily, holding his phone against his ear as he walked into the bathroom, needing to get ready.

“Feisty,” said a low voice. A female one. 

“I’m sorry, who’s this?” Dean could hear a sigh on the line.

“It’s Meg, idiot. I sort of need that santa costume back, like pretty damn soon,”

“I’ll drop it off before work, okay? I’m kind of in a hurry.” Dean started angrily brushing his teeth and continued to do so for approximately ten seconds before spitting loudly. 

“Fine, fine.” And then Meg had hung up on him, again. Weren’t people who worked at a volunteer centres supposed to be nice? 

 

\---

Dean arrived at work way too late, slightly exhausted and in an awful mood. Working on the cars helped, though. He liked how easily they could be fixed, unlike so many other things. Like relationships, romantic or family-wise. And then he was on it again, the image of Castiel filling his mind and making it impossible to think of anything else. He wondered how it had went that night. He wondered if he was okay. 

Life went on. Dean worked more overtime than anyone should, just because he didn’t have anything better to do. His hard work got him promoted, and he figured he would have enough money to go back to Kansas in the summer. 

His calls with Sam became less frequent as school got harder, and calls with Mary became less frequent as he felt worse and worse. 

He did become closer to his coworker Charlie, though. Apparently they had several tv shows in common, and it lead to a sleepover at Charlie’s place one night. They were laying in her bed, arms crossed over their chests and staring at the ceiling after hours of television watching. 

“You know Dorothy? The girl who keeps bringing in her car because of the smallest troubles?”

Dean did know Dorothy. She was getting on his nerves. “I do,” he responded, turning to look at Charlie as she spoke. 

“I think I know why,” Charlie said, turning as well, so that they looked at each other.

“Why?” 

“Because she likes you. It’s really quite obvious.”

Dean laughed at the ridiculous theory, but then realised he’d seen way worse flirting then that.  
“I really hope not,” he said as he sat up and started stuffing his mouth with popcorn. 

“Why? Is it because you’re gay?”

Dean spat out half the popcorn and blushed. “No! No, I’m not gay, Charlie.”

Charlie looked down.  
“Oh.” 

“I’m bi,” Dean added, hoping he hadn’t hurt Charlie by answering so fast. 

Charlie smiled a little.  
“Okay, then. Because I _am_ gay.”

“Cool,” Dean responded. 

“Jeez, I’ve been single for too long,” Charlie sighed. 

“Me too. Unless you count fake relationships, that is.” Dean said. He wasn’t sure if telling Charlie was a good idea, but Castiel was still constantly on his mind. He wanted to talk to him, he really did, but it felt like he’d waited too long. 

Charlie raised an eyebrow.  
“What kind of fake relationship?” she asked curiously. She sat up as well, and grabbed some popcorn herself. 

“There was this guy I volunteered with at Christmas. We went to a boy’s home first, to cheer up the children. Then afterwards we went to his house, where he got yelled at by his homophobic mother, so he called me his boyfriend to piss her off.” Dean stopped there. He couldn’t get himself to even think about the rest. How he’d left a vulnerable guy all to himself at Christmas.

“It was really nice of you to volunteer! What happened to the guy?” 

“I dropped him off at his place and that was it. Haven’t talked to him since.” Dean stared at the black television, and chewed hard on his popcorn. 

“Dean, you have to talk to him!” 

Dean shook his head.  
“It’s been too long already. It would be nothing but awkward.” 

Charlie shrugged.  
“I think it would be worth a shot, but that’s just me. Sounds like you liked the guy.”

“How about we sleep? I’m tired.” 

They went to brush their teeth and did so i silence. Eventually they were back in bed, facing different directions as they tried to sleep.  
“What’s his name?” Charlie asked, voice so small Dean could barely hear her. 

“Castiel,” he replied with his eyes closed. 

Silence filled the room as they both unsuccessfully tried to sleep.

“You have a crush on Dorothy, don’t you?” Dean asked, smiling. 

“Maybe,” Charlie responded. She paused before continuing.  
“Maybe we should just watch something. This sleeping thing isn’t working too well.”

They didn’t get much sleep that night, but they did watch all the Lord of The Rings movies.


	4. In which there are harry potter refrences

“Dean!” Charlie yelled from out front. 

Dean quickly wiped his oily hands on his jeans and walked out to the reception. Charlie was placed in front of the computer as usual, where she scheduled appointments. Sadly, or happily for her sake, they weren’t all too busy and she spent most of her time roleplaying on the internet. 

“Dorothy,” Dean nodded at the customer, trying to be nice even though he found her quite annoying. Charlie’s theory made him like her even less, which sucked, considering she was one of their best customers. “What's wrong with her this time?” he asked.

“The heater doesn’t seem to work that well, and late January is always so cold,” Dorothy said, looking down in shame. She then shot a look at Charlie, and there was something in her eyes, and then she looked down again. Dean got the sudden urge to laugh out loud, it was just so freaking obvious to him! Charlie was smart, and he didn’t understand how she still hadn’t realised. 

“Alright, I’ll take a look at her,” Dean said, walking toward Dorothy to get her keys.

“I like how you call her she, by the way,” Dorothy said as he gave them to him. She smiled. A genuine, soft smile.

“I like how you noticed. Have a name for her?” 

Charlie snorted in the back, clearly not that okay with Dean getting to know Dorothy. Dean knew what was up, and he’d tell her eventually. For now, he wanted to annoy her, just a little bit. 

“It's stupid,” Dorothy said. She looked at him with shame. 

“Come on, it can't be that bad?” Dean said, putting his hands in his pockets and smiling. “My car is named Baby. I was a little bit lame at sixteen, wasn’t I? Don't wanna change it though. She is my baby after all,” He let out a laugh, feeling a little bit stupid confessing his love to a car out loud. 

Dorothy smiled at that. “Her name is Hermione,” Dorothy laughed before she sat down on the couch. 

“Harry Potter is good. Charlie likes it a lot,” he said.

Charlie blushed and stared at her computer screen with a lot more concentration than it required.

“I’ll just wait here,” Dorothy said before she sat down. She pulled up her phone and stared at it. Dean was fairly certain it wasn’t even turned on.

Dean nodded and blinked at Charlie before driving Hermione into the garage, ready to check her heater even though he was positive it worked perfectly, 

Once he was done and his theory was proven as nothing was broken whatsoever, he decided to organise some tools, just to give Charlie and Dorothy some extra time. 

He eventually drove the car back out and went to get Dorothy. 

“Hermione-” He coughed. His throat felt scratchy.

“Hermione is all good, zero problems whatsoever.” He said. Charlie and Dorothy exchanged looks. 

“Thanks,” Dorothy said. 

“Here are the keys,” He handed them to her. 

“Thanks,” she said, and she stared at the ground and blushed for a second before practically running out the door. 

Dean sat down on the desk, next to Charlie’s computer, and smirked. 

“Please tell me you talked to her,” he said enthusiastically. 

“I didn't,” Charlie replied.

“Why the hell not?”

“She’s into you, remember?” She sounded a little hurt. 

“That's where you’re wrong! She’s into you. That’s why she keeps coming back, not for two minutes with me, but to sit here with you!”

Charlie looked at him, and she didn't look convinced.

“I don't think so, man. Why would that though even cross your mind?” 

“Because,” Dean smiled. “Of the way she looks at you.” 

Charlie laughed for five minutes straight before looking up at Dean’s still very much serious face. “Shit.” 

Dean’s throat felt increasingly sore throughout the day, and he felt like crap by the time his shift was over. Bela had arrived to work her shift, and Dean said goodbye to her and Charlie.

Once out in the Impala he decided to go to the bar, as he didn't feel quite alive enough to make dinner and they had some great food. He also hadn't seen Benny in quite a while. 

The place was fairly quiet despite being dinner time. Dean assumed the rush had ended just before he got there. He opened the door.

Dean sat down at the bar, smiling as Benny walked toward him. 

“Dean, it’s been a while,” he said. 

“It has, I’ve been working a lot.” 

Benny nodded. “The usual?” he asked. 

“The usual.” Dean looked around as he waited and got a glimpse of the door. For a second he thought he saw a trenchcoat-clad male leave the bar. He was excited for a second, thinking maybe, just maybe it was Castiel - but then he realised there were probably hundreds or thousands of people wearing trench coats in New York at that exact moment.  
As he waited for the food, a girl came up to him. He looked up from his phone. “Can I help you?” 

She smiled. “You could buy me a drink.” 

He smirked. “I could. What’s your name, pretty?”

“Lisa.” Lisa really was pretty. She had big brown eyes that lit up and a big smile. Long, dark hair framed her face. 

“I’m Dean, and I can definitely get you that drink.” 

Benny arrived with his burger just then. “Who’s this?” he asked, pushing the burger in front of Dean. 

Lisa told him her name, and it was followed by a long-lasting silence until she pointed to some women at the back of the bar and sort of just ran off. 

Benny and let his employees take care of the other customers as he stood across from Dean.

“Dude, talk about cockblock!” Dean accused, angrily taking a big bite of his burger. He then became really angry at the burger for being so damn tasty, and a little less angry at Benny because he made it. 

“You could’ve salvaged that,” Benny just responded. 

Dean decided to be thankful. Probably wouldn’t have ended well anyway, considering how awful he was feeling. 

“Those burgers should be famous,” he eventually said, mouth stuffed full of food.

“They kind of are,” Benny laughed.

“More famous then.”

“I wouldn’t mind that.”

Benny had started the place about a year ago (he reasoned it with “I love drinks and food, so why the hell not!”) and it was going surprisingly well for him. 

“Isn’t owning a business a lot of work?” Dean asked between mouthfuls. 

“Dean, I’m pretty sure you work like three times as much as me. Seriously, your boss has got to be awful.” 

Dean shook his head. “Crowley is a grumpy fucker, but the shifts are on me. I’m trying to save up money to go back home in the summer.” 

Benny shrugged. “Just don’t overwork yourself too badly. That’s no good.” 

Dean heavily swallowed and coughed a couple times

“Want some water?” Benny asked, but he was off to get some before Dean could answer. 

Dean looked around. The interior was mostly wooden. There was a brick wall, some tables shattered around and some darts boards set up. It was fairly small, and quite like any other bar. There were still some things that made it special, like a beautiful painting on one wall and lots of plants around the place. The best thing was the smell. The smell of food constantly filled the room, and it was pretty damn great.

Benny came back, and looked at Dean, his eyes filled with worry. “You’re about to get sick, aren’t you?”

Dean shrugged, but knew he was, and he definitely was not looking forward to it. He took a long sip of his water. 

“Finish your burger and go home, get some sleep.” 

Dean groaned. “Come on, don’t act like mom! I have plans.”

Benny raised an eyebrow. “What kind of plans?”

“Alcohol. Lot’s of it. If I’m gonna have to stay away from work tomorrow, I might as well get drunk now.” Dean smiled and stood up, leaning on the wooden counter, ready to get wasted. It had been too long.

“Go home, Dean,” Benny said before walking off to help a customer. 

How rude, Dean though as he sighed. He was considering going to another bar instead. There was one just across the street, one where they’d serve him no matter what. He had gone there a lot before Benny opened his bar. They didn’t give a crap about him. That was the thing, though. Benny did. Dean couldn’t believe he was doing it, but he found himself on his way home just a couple minutes later.


End file.
